Modeling Geographic Distribution of the Asiatic Black Bear

The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus japonicus), a threatened species assessed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, inhabits Honshu and Shikoku islands in Japan. It is also well known as an umbrella species, which is defined as a species whose conservation confers a protective umbrella to numerous other species. On these islands, the habitats of the Asiatic black bear metapopulation have been fragmented by deforestation because of new road and infrastructure development. A project in progress aims to create a new linkage between the metapopulations between the Tanzawa and Fuji regions of Japan. The goal is to understand the potential spatial distribution of Asiatic black bear to identify core areas and to assess needs for ecological networks. More than 1,800 species point records and 26 potential predictors were prepared in a GIS environment for spatial analysis. After screening predictors, the geographic distribution of Asiatic black bears in Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures were modeled by three algorithms.

Courtesy of Tomoko Doko.